Recharged and ready to rumble, the Maine Black Bears head to the ‘big’ city to drop the puck on the second half of their season against the Bentley Falcons at Cross Insurance Arena in downtown Portland on Sunday afternoon.

Following a sweep over the stubborn Stonehill Skyhawks in early December, the Black Bears scattered far and wide to take a well-deserved break, getting themselves ready to attack the remainder of the season at full intensity.

While the eleven-day break from their regular Orono routine allowed Maine to rest their bruised bodies, make no mistake about it, these Black Bears didn’t spend their time at home hibernating. Each player was given an individual workout plan with the idea that the time ‘off’ would be used not only to stay in peak shape but incrementally improve their physical performance.

“[If] we come back and now we’re trying to get back in shape, trying to work off the five pounds we put on, that can cost you your season,” Head Coach Ben Barr warned before the team broke for the end of Fall semester. “We have to attack the break, just like it is part of our season. It’s not like we can go home and can just sit on the couch and have Mom and Dad bring us food.”

A mental reset

While the conditioning didn’t slow down, the break did allow the Black Bears to take a mental pause from the intense daily grind of their life in Orono they’ve been on since July.

Able to hit the mental reset button could prove to be vital for Maine’s successes as the business end of the season ramps up.

Although Maine boasts a 12-2-2 record, the top spot in the Hockey East standings, polled as #4 in the country, and ranked in the Pairwise as #3, none of the Black Bears are overly overjoyed with their season so far, understanding that it’s not where they are at the New Year that matters, but instead in April.

Maine has one thing and one thing only on its mind: championships.

So, while the record left Black Bear Nation ecstatic, the Bears on ice believe they still have a lot they need to improve upon performance-wise to bring a third National Championship back to the great State of Maine.

“The record might be fine, but we’re nowhere near where we need to be, at the end of the day — to be holding a trophy somewhere,” Barr said

“The jobs not done. We had a great first half, but we’re not even close to achieving what we want to achieve,” David Breazeale said, reiterating his coach’s point.

According to Barr, the most critical area for improvement isn’t a physical one but a mental weakness that is holding his team back from reaching their full potential and taking the next step.

“I think we need to get better at the mental side of the game. If you watch the games, it's glaring individual breakdowns and mistakes. Mistakes happen, especially in a game like hockey, where it’s fast, mistakes are going to happen, but the timid, lack of composure type things that happen at times,” Barr explained. “That’s a mental thing; it has nothing to do with ability or capability.”

Barr hopes the time away from Orono will not only replenish the mental juices but also be used as a time to strengthen their mental skills. Barr explained that while the coaching staff tries to replicate the mental challenges game-like intensity brings in practice, they also work with a sports performance coach to help the process of strengthening their mental fortitude.

“[It takes] embracing pressure, if that’s what you want to call it, and not faltering in it. Enjoying that part of it… It’s an easy thing to talk about, and it comes down to what’s your mental process through those moments,” Barr said. “We fully believe, our staff fully believes that we’ll get there,” Barr said.

Right back at it

With no rest for the wicked, the Black Bears returned to Orono on the 22nd, practicing through Christmas to ensure they can hit the ground running to kick off the second half without missing a step, looking to carry their five-game winning streak and seven-game unbeaten run into the New Year.

“We came back a couple of days early to sacrifice our Christmas with our families to be in the best shape we possibly can be, and we’ve been ramping up all week, and I think it's going to really help us come Sunday,” Nolan Renwick said.

Any college hockey coach finds the holiday break tricky, and Barr has learned from past shortcomings to understand that there is a fine line between giving the team too much and too little time off.

Two seasons ago the Black Bears had sixteen days away from team practices. They entered the break on a four-game winning streak, the longest under Barr at that point. But the extended break caused Maine to return rusty, unable to carry any momentum with them.

“We came back, and we played Colgate, and we played horrible, and that was a lack of planning on my part,” Barr admitted.

Last season was the first time the team practiced over Christmas. The extended practice time before returning to competitive contests proved helpful, as Maine went on to win the Ledyard Bank Classic convincingly.

According to Barr, the team returned to team practice in good fettle, eager to get their competitive juices flowing once again.

“Their energy has been good. They’re excited to play. The first games back, you never really, you kind of go into it not necessarily knowing how crisp you’re going to be, and the execution piece of it might be a little bit off,” Barr said.

Fantastic Falcons

The Black Bears won’t have any time to ease their way into the second half, with a ferocious Bentley team flying into the contest brimming with confidence and belief, riding their best season in recent memory with a 10-5-2 record.

“They’re a really good team. Obviously, their record is really good. Watching them play Northeastern before the break, they lost the game but carried large parts of that game. They’re a confident group,” Barr said.

The Black Bears are well aware that Bentley are no pushovers.

Last season, in a game also in Portland, the Falcons gave Maine all they could handle as the Black Bears narrowly scrapped past Bentley.

“We were lucky to beat those guys down [in Portland] last year, and I imagine it’s going to be a really tight game,” Barr said.

The year before, Bentley gave the Black Bears more than they could handle, overpowering Maine 5-1 down in Waltham, Massachusetts. Harrison Scott scored twice for the Falcons in that game, and Nicholas Niemo scored once in their final year before they both transferred to Maine.

With an even better team than the last two renditions of the Falcons the Black Bears faced, Maine’s rustiness will be immediately tested and will be used as a measuring stick for gigantic contests against defending National Champions Denver and a tough trip to UMass Lowell on the near horizon.

“We’re going to play a team that’s going to make us work for everything. They’re really structured and play really hard, so it’s going to be a great test,” Barr said.

The Falcons are molded much like the Black Bears. Physical and fast, Bentley attacks in numbers, looking to create overloads with their skilled defensemen jumping up into the rush.

“The keys to them are that they work extremely hard, are very detailed, and play the right way, which is stuff we pride ourselves on, so it’s going to be  a match of who can be better at their own game,” Renwick said.

Their most prolific forward threats include a transfer from Quinnipiac #9, Ethan Leyh (6g-12a-18pts), a UMass Lowell transfer #21, Nik Armstong-Kingkade (5g-8a-13pts), #16 Kellen Hjartarson (5g-5a-10pts), and #15 Oskar Bakkavig (7g-4a-11pts).

Meanwhile, their offensive-minded defensemen, Maine, will need to keep a weary out for include another Quinnipiac transfer, #5 Nick Bochen (5g-8a-13pts), and former Black Bear #4 Sam Duerr (5g-5a-9pts).

Meanwhile, junior netminder #33 Connor Hasley holds a solid .911 save % and 2.1 GAA.

Being a well-structured team that will keep bodies behind the puck, Maine will need to win their one-on-one puck battles, get pucks in deep, forecheck strongly, get it unstuck from the boards, and create their offense through a meat-and-potatoes effort.

“They’re going to be above the puck, they’re physical, they can really skate, so they’re not going to give you tons of time and space. We’ll have less space in this game than we do against a lot of the teams in our league because they are very structured,” Barr praised.

The Maine event

A college hockey team rarely represents an entire state.

But the Black Bears are no ordinary hockey team and Maine is no usual state.

The Black Bears are the biggest show, the most beloved team, amateur or professional, in this neck of the woods, and therefore, they receive a cult following unlike almost anywhere else in the country.

While the scripted Maine they wear across their chests is the name of the university it represents tucked away in tiny Orono, it is a proud symbol of identity for Mainers in all corners of the state and beyond. From Kittery to Madawaska all the way.

“The whole state obviously supports this program. That’s really unique in college hockey. So far us to be able to go two, two and a half hours away and have a full arena when school is out, and all that kind of stuff is really unique. We’re really excited about it,” Barr said.

Wherever they go, Black Bear Nation follows, making most rinks they play in filled with swarms of blue and white.

Portland’s Cross Insurance Arena is about to turn into Alfond South.

Nobody else does it like Maine.